Granting free travel in the US

US - British Airways has launched a series of Business Opportunity Grants to “help 100 small-to-medium-size US businesses travel for free to drive business growth”.

BA has partnered with Regus Office Services, Courtyard by Marriott, Canon USA and British Airways World Cargo to allow Grant recipients 10 BA roundtrip transatlantic Club World business-class tickets and accommodation to be used at their business’ discretion in 2010.

The Grant programme is phase two of BA’s ‘Face-to-Face’ campaign and the company says it aims to drive forward enterprises by focusing on tangible, human connections as a crucial driver of business growth.

"Connecting people globally is our number one objective, and we've long known that the key to building a successful long-term business partnership is through face-to-face meetings," says executive vice president of Americas at BA, Simon Talling-Smith.

"Even after giving away close to 1,000 seats during phase one of the campaign to help US entrepreneurs grow their businesses, we realised there was still more we could do. Our hope is that the 'Business Opportunity Grants' help these businesses increase their revenues and reach important milestones in their strategic growth plans," he adds.

Entries will be reviewed by a group of British Airways executives and its communications and business partners.